Mongols had one of the largest, if not THE largest empires ever in history. However I must go for contribution to society and say Rome.
It was the largest ever. Not to mention Genghis is the only true undefeated leader.
It was not even remotely close to the largest ever. You could fit it inside Canada.
Lets see from the coast of China to the northern parts of Russia, all of SE Asia, deep into India, and almost all the way if not even parts of Europe. I don't even think China itself was half of the landmass.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day. And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
If the criteria is size the British empire beats the Mongol empire by 3 million sq km and had one quarter of the worlds population at its epoc 458 million. The mongols a mere 100 million.
The British empire was a world empire the Mongols only controled large swaths of Asia and parts of Europe.
Also consider the fact England is a relatively small land mass/population to begin with and it appears the British Empire was totaly Epic, eclipsing any other Empire in history.
Let me add a few other observations The Mongol empire lasted for barely 100 years the British nearly 400.
English is the worlds second language, what was the Mongols language?
How many states or nations spawned from either? Again the British hands down.
However i would be willing to concede the Mongols as a close second if for no other reason than there own meteoric rise from obscurity.
After consideration of this i will have to rescind my previous post and relegate Rome to the third greatest Empire in History. But not by much considering Romes own contributions to history.
The British empire was a world empire the Mongols only controled large swaths of Asia and parts of Europe.
Also consider the fact England is a relatively small land mass/population to begin with and it appears the British Empire was totaly Epic, eclipsing any other Empire in history.
Well obviously... we're British.
We're just resting at the moment, but we'll be back.
If the criteria is size the British empire beats the Mongol empire by 3 million sq km and had one quarter of the worlds population at its epoc 458 million. The mongols a mere 100 million.
The British empire was a world empire the Mongols only controled large swaths of Asia and parts of Europe.
Also consider the fact England is a relatively small land mass/population to begin with and it appears the British Empire was totaly Epic, eclipsing any other Empire in history.
Let me add a few other observations The Mongol empire lasted for barely 100 years the British nearly 400.
English is the worlds second language, what was the Mongols language?
How many states or nations spawned from either? Again the British hands down.
However i would be willing to concede the Mongols as a close second if for no other reason than there own meteoric rise from obscurity.
After consideration of this i will have to rescind my previous post and relegate Rome to the third greatest Empire in History. But not by much considering Romes own contributions to history.
The Mongol empire was the largest contigious(spelt wrong prolly) in history. The British empire was bits and pieces all over the world. So while the British had that 458million all over the world the Mongols had it in one spot. The Mongols conqured China which at the time imo was the leader in tech. When the Brits started conquering they had moved to the forefront of tech along with Europe. Also whne they took land they just kinda said this belongs to us now. I doubt they swept through India, Australia or the parts of Africa they controlled. Also how long did it take Britain to take that land. Genghis conquered all that in his life time and still had time to spare.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day. And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
Romans established legal concepts of civil rights, the legal personality of corporations, contractual obligations, real and personal property, private ownership, modes of proof for use in the courtroom, the legal force of a will.
Rome is still with us but yet they are no longer around.
Greatest implies to me, the longest impression left over time.Com'on running around in white robes,public baths,shields,armor,swords.Rome is the greatest, its finger prints are even in some Holy Books.Im stickin with Rome.
Fagan argues against the belief that the baths were the great equalizers with the commoners and elite mingling in blissful harmony. This would have compromised the "dignitas" of the elite. Instead, the baths were like any other public venue where the elite would "show off" and "flaunt" their social superiority.
Trade in material assumptions for spiritual facts and make permanent progress.
If the criteria is size the British empire beats the Mongol empire by 3 million sq km and had one quarter of the worlds population at its epoc 458 million. The mongols a mere 100 million.
The British empire was a world empire the Mongols only controled large swaths of Asia and parts of Europe.
Also consider the fact England is a relatively small land mass/population to begin with and it appears the British Empire was totaly Epic, eclipsing any other Empire in history.
Let me add a few other observations The Mongol empire lasted for barely 100 years the British nearly 400.
English is the worlds second language, what was the Mongols language?
How many states or nations spawned from either? Again the British hands down.
However i would be willing to concede the Mongols as a close second if for no other reason than there own meteoric rise from obscurity.
After consideration of this i will have to rescind my previous post and relegate Rome to the third greatest Empire in History. But not by much considering Romes own contributions to history.
The Mongol empire was the largest contigious(spelt wrong prolly) in history. The British empire was bits and pieces all over the world. So while the British had that 458million all over the world the Mongols had it in one spot. The Mongols conqured China which at the time imo was the leader in tech. When the Brits started conquering they had moved to the forefront of tech along with Europe. Also whne they took land they just kinda said this belongs to us now. I doubt they swept through India, Australia or the parts of Africa they controlled. Also how long did it take Britain to take that land. Genghis conquered all that in his life time and still had time to spare.
With respect The longer time factor for the British could be explained by the fact they had to move all over the world where as the mongols only had to march across the continent,
Also the Mongol method of warfare was unbeatable, horseback using composite bows, nothing could match it in that time period, in the open feild, they had to rely on the expertise of others for seige warfare.
No doubt the Mongols were the worlds greatest conquerers led by the greatest conquerer of them all,
You should make a new poll with them all together. I voted on each one. Roman and Mongul. But I believe the Mongul empire was much bigger then the Roman at it's hight.
No body, and I mean no body effed with Ghengis (sp?). The Roman empire was the longest lasting though I think.
Edit: Actually, the British empire may have surpassed the Romans at it's height. I didn't read all the posts so I have no idea to be honest.
Egypt was the longest lasting.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day. And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
I would have to say Egypt since it lasted the longest.
nm..Egypt was longer
You give up too easily, Enigma, I think you can make an argument for Rome in terms of longevity. Let's run some numbers. First Rome, since it's dates are more easily defined. The traditional founding of Rome was in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus. The city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 476 A.D. That adds up to 1229 years. Pretty impressive. However, the Roman Empire did not end with the sack of Rome in 476. About 150 years earlier, Constantine the Great saw the writing on the wall and moved the Roman capital from Rome to Byzantium and changed the name to Constantinople (after himself. Hey if Alexander could name over 30 cities after himself, Constantine could do it at least once).
After the relocation of the capital and the spread of Christianity throughout its land, it became known as the Byzantine Empire and bore little resemblence to its original Roman self. But it had not been conquered by a foreign power and, therefore, should still be considered the same empire. It did, however, finally fall to the Ottomans in 1453 (I hate to disagree with you Enigma, but I don't see how you can consider the Russian Empire to be an extension of the Roman. They simply borrowed the name Caesar and bestowed it upon their king, which is Czar in Russian. Btw, the Germans did the very same thing with the name Kaiser, which also stands for Caesar).
So, if you accept 753 B.C. as the founding date of Rome and 1453 A.D. and the fall of the empire, that adds up to a whopping 2206 years. America should be so lucky.
Now the only other empire on earth that could even compete with this is Egypt. However, its dates are more ambiguous since it is so much older. Egyptologists believe that the Upper and Lower kingdoms were unified by a pharoah named Narmer in 3150 B.C. (I happen to believe this is open to debate, but for the sake of argument let's accept it). But even more ambiguous is when did Egypt fall? It actually fell more than once. It fell to foreign invaders called Hyksos from about 1680 to 1570 B.C. It fell again to the Assyrians in 671 B.C. The Assyrians were conquered in 612 B.C. by a Median-Babylonian coalition. As a result, Egypt became independent again. It finally lost its independence for good in 525 B.C. when it was conquered by the Persians. It would survive for centuries as Egypt but, in truth, its rulers were not Egyptian.
So, if you take 3150 B.C. as the date of its founding and subtract 525 B.C. as the date that it finally lost its independence, plus 110 years for the time it was ruled by the Hyksos, plus the 59 years it was subject to the Assyrians, you end up with a total of 2456 years that the Egyptian Empire lasted. That's 250 years longer than the Roman Empire lasted. So I guess you were right to concede GrayPixie's assertion after all. But again, I think the founding of the Egyptian Empire is subject to argument, so who knows for sure. Bottom line is, both empires lasted a long damn time.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned anything about the South American stuff like the Maya, Inca, and all that other stuff....
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
Why is everyone basing their answers on size? It should a factor but not the only one. In terms of cultural and military influence, the Roman empire is vastly superior. Even though the Roman themselves stole many of their ideas from the Greek, many Roman ideals still persist in today's society (their democracy being a influence on our founding fathers and Latin in many English words).
Why is everyone basing their answers on size? It should a factor but not the only one. In terms of cultural and military influence, the Roman empire is vastly superior. Even though the Roman themselves stole many of their ideas from the Greek, many Roman ideals still persist in today's society (their democracy being a influence on our founding fathers and Latin in many English words).
ummmm didn't greeks use democracy first?
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day. And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
I think the most powerful empire by land, resources, economics, capability, etc.
It is amazing that a bunch of intellectuals and ordinary farmers (most people were farmers, similar to how most people are lower middle-class today) opposed this juggernaut.
American Revolution
The American revolution began when the British colonists first began to question the instructions of the intrusions of Great Britain into their economic progress and civil lives. It erupted into armed conflict in 1775 and ended with a peace treaty in 1783.
The explosive matter of who was to pay for the French and Indian War of 1754-1763 can be said to have generated the revolutionary war.
When the revolution started, the American colonists were the most free, and prosperous, people in the entire world on a per capita basis. That is, they were not like rich... but they had enough at a time when most did not in the world.
Then, one day, the British colonists said, hey:
Government should serve people; people should not serve government
Government should be divided, among three branches, so that one cannot predominant
Government should actually be charged with protecting civil liberties, neither "granting" them nor "taking-away" them
And of course the notion that "all men are created equal"
Fascinating history. A revolution to protect, advance ordinary "equal" people. Almost unbelievable, in my opinion from studying history.
Ancient World
Roman Empire
The history of the Romans cannot be separated from the history of the "barbarians." It is a fascinating story of warfare, conquest, and exploration. The relationships between the Romans and the Barbarians is a complex one as they wared, intermarried, exchanged ideas and values.
Vikings
I think bringing up the Roman Empire is a good segway to the Vikings. From 790 to 1066, the Vikings were seemingly invincible. They spread across Europe and plundered, raided, and overwhelmed anything and everyone that opposed them. These explorers and traders were decisive in forming what we know as Latin Christendom in Western Europe. By 1100, the Vikings willingly shed their identity and really just dissolved into myth and legend and their own culture vanished. EDIT: These explorers were the first to "discover" America. Fascinating.
Why is everyone basing their answers on size? It should a factor but not the only one. In terms of cultural and military influence, the Roman empire is vastly superior. Even though the Roman themselves stole many of their ideas from the Greek, many Roman ideals still persist in today's society (their democracy being a influence on our founding fathers and Latin in many English words).
ummmm didn't greeks use democracy first?
Where did I say it wasn't? I merely stated that their goverment had a vast influense on the U.S.'s present goverment. Read this.
Why is everyone basing their answers on size? It should a factor but not the only one. In terms of cultural and military influence, the Roman empire is vastly superior. Even though the Roman themselves stole many of their ideas from the Greek, many Roman ideals still persist in today's society (their democracy being a influence on our founding fathers and Latin in many English words).
I'm a little bit surprised there aren't more people making arguments in favor of Greece. Perhaps because most seem to be focusing on the size of the empire or the length of time over which it stood. But just think about the wide variety of fields to which the Greeks contributed to civilization. Art, science, politics, military combat, architecture, literature, medicine, athletics, seafaring...the list goes on and on. Greece has contributed something to virtually every western civilization which followed it. We talk about English being the world's language today, but how many words in the English language are derived from Greek? I know sure, but I know it's a lot.
Rome finishes at or near the top of the list in the survey, but there's a saying that goes, "Rome conguered Greece, then Greece conquered Rome." Because Rome did conquer Greece militarily, but when they saw Greek culture, the Romans felt inferior to the Greeks. They almost immediately adopted Greek culture as their own. Their buildings were modeled after Greek architecture, they started worshiping the Greek gods (giving them Roman names of course), even their national epic, The Aeneid, was written as a response to Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. So it may not be the greatest empire in history, but I think it at least belongs in the conversation.
Comments
It was the largest ever. Not to mention Genghis is the only true undefeated leader.
It was not even remotely close to the largest ever. You could fit it inside Canada.
Lets see from the coast of China to the northern parts of Russia, all of SE Asia, deep into India, and almost all the way if not even parts of Europe. I don't even think China itself was half of the landmass.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
England, without a doubt.
Wiki to the rescue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_empires
If the criteria is size the British empire beats the Mongol empire by 3 million sq km and had one quarter of the worlds population at its epoc 458 million. The mongols a mere 100 million.
The British empire was a world empire the Mongols only controled large swaths of Asia and parts of Europe.
Also consider the fact England is a relatively small land mass/population to begin with and it appears the British Empire was totaly Epic, eclipsing any other Empire in history.
Let me add a few other observations The Mongol empire lasted for barely 100 years the British nearly 400.
English is the worlds second language, what was the Mongols language?
How many states or nations spawned from either? Again the British hands down.
However i would be willing to concede the Mongols as a close second if for no other reason than there own meteoric rise from obscurity.
After consideration of this i will have to rescind my previous post and relegate Rome to the third greatest Empire in History. But not by much considering Romes own contributions to history.
Well obviously... we're British.
We're just resting at the moment, but we'll be back.
You'll see..
*waves fist*
Muhahahaha... etc
The Mongol empire was the largest contigious(spelt wrong prolly) in history. The British empire was bits and pieces all over the world. So while the British had that 458million all over the world the Mongols had it in one spot. The Mongols conqured China which at the time imo was the leader in tech. When the Brits started conquering they had moved to the forefront of tech along with Europe. Also whne they took land they just kinda said this belongs to us now. I doubt they swept through India, Australia or the parts of Africa they controlled. Also how long did it take Britain to take that land. Genghis conquered all that in his life time and still had time to spare.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
Romans established legal concepts of civil rights, the legal personality of corporations, contractual obligations, real and personal property, private ownership, modes of proof for use in the courtroom, the legal force of a will.
Rome is still with us but yet they are no longer around.
Greatest implies to me, the longest impression left over time.Com'on running around in white robes,public baths,shields,armor,swords.Rome is the greatest, its finger prints are even in some Holy Books.Im stickin with Rome.
Fagan argues against the belief that the baths were the great equalizers with the commoners and elite mingling in blissful harmony. This would have compromised the "dignitas" of the elite. Instead, the baths were like any other public venue where the elite would "show off" and "flaunt" their social superiority.
Trade in material assumptions for spiritual facts and make permanent progress.
The Mongol empire was the largest contigious(spelt wrong prolly) in history. The British empire was bits and pieces all over the world. So while the British had that 458million all over the world the Mongols had it in one spot. The Mongols conqured China which at the time imo was the leader in tech. When the Brits started conquering they had moved to the forefront of tech along with Europe. Also whne they took land they just kinda said this belongs to us now. I doubt they swept through India, Australia or the parts of Africa they controlled. Also how long did it take Britain to take that land. Genghis conquered all that in his life time and still had time to spare.
With respect
The longer time factor for the British could be explained by the fact they had to move all over the world where as the mongols only had to march across the continent,
Also the Mongol method of warfare was unbeatable, horseback using composite bows, nothing could match it in that time period, in the open feild, they had to rely on the expertise of others for seige warfare.
No doubt the Mongols were the worlds greatest conquerers led by the greatest conquerer of them all,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghengis_kahn but his Empre failed to have staying power,dissolving within 100 years of his death into seperate entities.
I base my decision on the impact to world history and will remain with the British choice, with respect to yours Arndur.
You should make a new poll with them all together. I voted on each one. Roman and Mongul.
But I believe the Mongul empire was much bigger then the Roman at it's hight.
No body, and I mean no body effed with Ghengis (sp?).
The Roman empire was the longest lasting though I think.
Edit: Actually, the British empire may have surpassed the Romans at it's height. I didn't read all the posts so I have no idea to be honest.
Egypt was the longest lasting.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
nm..Egypt was longer
You give up too easily, Enigma, I think you can make an argument for Rome in terms of longevity. Let's run some numbers. First Rome, since it's dates are more easily defined. The traditional founding of Rome was in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus. The city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 476 A.D. That adds up to 1229 years. Pretty impressive. However, the Roman Empire did not end with the sack of Rome in 476. About 150 years earlier, Constantine the Great saw the writing on the wall and moved the Roman capital from Rome to Byzantium and changed the name to Constantinople (after himself. Hey if Alexander could name over 30 cities after himself, Constantine could do it at least once).
After the relocation of the capital and the spread of Christianity throughout its land, it became known as the Byzantine Empire and bore little resemblence to its original Roman self. But it had not been conquered by a foreign power and, therefore, should still be considered the same empire. It did, however, finally fall to the Ottomans in 1453 (I hate to disagree with you Enigma, but I don't see how you can consider the Russian Empire to be an extension of the Roman. They simply borrowed the name Caesar and bestowed it upon their king, which is Czar in Russian. Btw, the Germans did the very same thing with the name Kaiser, which also stands for Caesar).
So, if you accept 753 B.C. as the founding date of Rome and 1453 A.D. and the fall of the empire, that adds up to a whopping 2206 years. America should be so lucky.
Now the only other empire on earth that could even compete with this is Egypt. However, its dates are more ambiguous since it is so much older. Egyptologists believe that the Upper and Lower kingdoms were unified by a pharoah named Narmer in 3150 B.C. (I happen to believe this is open to debate, but for the sake of argument let's accept it). But even more ambiguous is when did Egypt fall? It actually fell more than once. It fell to foreign invaders called Hyksos from about 1680 to 1570 B.C. It fell again to the Assyrians in 671 B.C. The Assyrians were conquered in 612 B.C. by a Median-Babylonian coalition. As a result, Egypt became independent again. It finally lost its independence for good in 525 B.C. when it was conquered by the Persians. It would survive for centuries as Egypt but, in truth, its rulers were not Egyptian.
So, if you take 3150 B.C. as the date of its founding and subtract 525 B.C. as the date that it finally lost its independence, plus 110 years for the time it was ruled by the Hyksos, plus the 59 years it was subject to the Assyrians, you end up with a total of 2456 years that the Egyptian Empire lasted. That's 250 years longer than the Roman Empire lasted. So I guess you were right to concede GrayPixie's assertion after all. But again, I think the founding of the Egyptian Empire is subject to argument, so who knows for sure. Bottom line is, both empires lasted a long damn time.
British i think..just for the available choices..because its native language is the most widely used in the world..it's strong..
I'm surprised nobody mentioned anything about the South American stuff like the Maya, Inca, and all that other stuff....
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
United States surely..(i'm not an American..) its economy, its military affairs, all are stronger than others..however, i don't like it.. lol
Why is everyone basing their answers on size? It should a factor but not the only one. In terms of cultural and military influence, the Roman empire is vastly superior. Even though the Roman themselves stole many of their ideas from the Greek, many Roman ideals still persist in today's society (their democracy being a influence on our founding fathers and Latin in many English words).
ummmm didn't greeks use democracy first?
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
Contemporary World
British Empire
I think the most powerful empire by land, resources, economics, capability, etc.
It is amazing that a bunch of intellectuals and ordinary farmers (most people were farmers, similar to how most people are lower middle-class today) opposed this juggernaut.
American Revolution
The American revolution began when the British colonists first began to question the instructions of the intrusions of Great Britain into their economic progress and civil lives. It erupted into armed conflict in 1775 and ended with a peace treaty in 1783.
The explosive matter of who was to pay for the French and Indian War of 1754-1763 can be said to have generated the revolutionary war.
When the revolution started, the American colonists were the most free, and prosperous, people in the entire world on a per capita basis. That is, they were not like rich... but they had enough at a time when most did not in the world.
Then, one day, the British colonists said, hey:
Fascinating history. A revolution to protect, advance ordinary "equal" people. Almost unbelievable, in my opinion from studying history.
Ancient World
Roman Empire
The history of the Romans cannot be separated from the history of the "barbarians." It is a fascinating story of warfare, conquest, and exploration. The relationships between the Romans and the Barbarians is a complex one as they wared, intermarried, exchanged ideas and values.
Vikings
I think bringing up the Roman Empire is a good segway to the Vikings. From 790 to 1066, the Vikings were seemingly invincible. They spread across Europe and plundered, raided, and overwhelmed anything and everyone that opposed them. These explorers and traders were decisive in forming what we know as Latin Christendom in Western Europe. By 1100, the Vikings willingly shed their identity and really just dissolved into myth and legend and their own culture vanished. EDIT: These explorers were the first to "discover" America. Fascinating.
ummmm didn't greeks use democracy first?
Where did I say it wasn't? I merely stated that their goverment had a vast influense on the U.S.'s present goverment. Read this.
I'm a little bit surprised there aren't more people making arguments in favor of Greece. Perhaps because most seem to be focusing on the size of the empire or the length of time over which it stood. But just think about the wide variety of fields to which the Greeks contributed to civilization. Art, science, politics, military combat, architecture, literature, medicine, athletics, seafaring...the list goes on and on. Greece has contributed something to virtually every western civilization which followed it. We talk about English being the world's language today, but how many words in the English language are derived from Greek? I know sure, but I know it's a lot.
Rome finishes at or near the top of the list in the survey, but there's a saying that goes, "Rome conguered Greece, then Greece conquered Rome." Because Rome did conquer Greece militarily, but when they saw Greek culture, the Romans felt inferior to the Greeks. They almost immediately adopted Greek culture as their own. Their buildings were modeled after Greek architecture, they started worshiping the Greek gods (giving them Roman names of course), even their national epic, The Aeneid, was written as a response to Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. So it may not be the greatest empire in history, but I think it at least belongs in the conversation.